Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Turkey, As I Saw It!

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Turkey, As I Saw It!

For years in the last decade or more, Turkey earned a lot of popularity for its progress. For the first time in its history, it was able to get rid of the ominous presence of a strong and secular military power that had great influence in the running of the country and the fate of democracy in the state was decided by the top brass of military and not by the democratic organs. With the emergence of AK Party into power in 2000 and the brisk development of the economy of the country made sure that military should mind its work of securing borders and not interfere in the matters of state. AK Party was and still is a strong entity in country’s politics as rest of the parties have failed to organize on such a strong and expanded basis. Recently conducted polls show that AK Party is a strong contender to win the upcoming parliamentary elections as well.

On the other hand, Turkey’s economy improved briskly and now Turkey is included in the top ten economies of the world. This economy edge also earned a lot of importance to Turkey in international politics. Spanning from the problem of Palestine, to Middle East and war-torn countries of Syria, Iraq and Libya, South Asia and Afghanistan to economic ties with South Korea, Japan and China and the economic crisis of Europe and America, voice of turkey carries a weight and importance of its own. Its two times Prime Minister and present day President Recep Tayyep Erdogan earned fame for his bold opinion about a number of international issues; most important one was the Palestine problem. Because of his bold stance to support Palestinians and talking against Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, his fame travelled rapidly from one to the other corner of Islamic world.

With all these realities in mind, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to turkey and witness all these with my own eyes. I found turkey even better than my expectations. I saw a wide network of roads, the metro services, large numbers of flights heading to destinations inside and outside the country and large number of economic and infrastructural activities that indicate that the economy of the country is yet to expand. At the Istanbul airport, I saw big lines of foreigners entering the country for tourism and business purposes. At the same time, thousands of Turkish citizens were also entering or leaving the country as now they have businesses or jobs in almost every part of the world. Country’s tourism is on sharp rise and hundreds and millions of tourists visit different parts of the country, which is also the major source of foreign earnings for the country. At the same time, it is the favorite destination of hundreds and thousands of rich people from war-torn countries of Afghanistan, Arab countries and other parts of the world who have bought houses there and are living on long-term stay permits.  

Just like any other country, there may be many different reasons for the jaw-widening progress of the country.  However, I think there are two reasons working for this. First was the change of Turkish nation as a whole in which every person contributed the share in the growth of the country and the economy. This was possible due to the following two reasons, rising rate of literacy and perception of responsibility by the masses of Turkey. I visited to far-flung areas where we reached after drive of almost two hours. Up there in the mountains, covered with trees was a small but well-facilitated school. I saw a number of latest vans dedicated to transport the schoolchildren. I was informed that schoolchildren are provided with milk, a good and healthy meal, free transport and education and well-facilitated schools. Now, number of teachers with high qualifications and professional skills are increasing, adding to the overall quality of education. Similarly, I saw that people were sincere and honest in carrying out their duties and this quality is very necessary for the rise of a nation. No doubt, there would be some corruption in the lines of government employees and public sector but overall, the rate of transparency and sense of responsibility is high.

Another good thing is the presence of a stable government that should provide an environment for people to grow and prosper. In last two decades, democracy has gained strength day by day and now there is no fear of any interference from the military dictators. Right from the first day, the ruling party also prioritized local and foreign investments and provided them with all the facilities. It is the reason why, there is present a wave of economic activities and expansion in every corner of the country.

Turkish society is a very interesting and worth-admiring society. Here, secularism and religion go hand in hand. In a Turkish society, people from different backgrounds, religious beliefs, languages, color and race live together, with single aim of living a better life. It is a general view that some members of a family might be wearing headscarves while others would be in absolute Western dress. Two brothers might be having differing viewpoints about religion but still they respect each other’s opinion. In a sense, it is a democracy that has penetrated into the lives of common people as well.

However, we also witnessed some protests and criticism of the government, declaring its acts to be non-democratic. The answer was given nicely in a private sitting by the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmuş, ‘Some powers in the world are not happy of the progress of Turkey. Turkey is now emerging as the only Islamic country to challenge and withstand the powers of West. This situation is not acceptable for some of them and they are working hard to create frustration and destabilize the country. Our stance regarding Palestine and support of victimized Muslim countries is also not acceptable for some nations and they are working to reverse our progress. However, we are not afraid of them, and we trust our people. If they are not happy of it, they will show their opinion in the upcoming elections but I am sure that they do trust AK Party and we will again be able to come and serve the country.’

Regarding politics, it was a delightful sign to see that all the parties were confidently and freely carrying out their election campaigns. This is the true spirit of democracy and upcoming elections would decide the next leaders of the country. As expected, transparent elections are going to be the elixir for the body of the democracy in a country that is going through the crucial stage of its life.

Muhammad Rasool Shah is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com

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